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BACKGROUND Pleasanton has offered financial and technical assistance to lower income homeowner households through its Housing Rehabilitation Program since 1993. The Program goals are to maintain safe homes and attractive neighborhoods, to preserve affordable housing, to improve the quality of Pleasanton's housing stock, and to ensure compliance with City building and zoning codes. Rehabilitation efforts are part of the City's affordable housing strategy, and the assistance provided by the Program is consistent with the General Plan's Housing Element policies and the Consolidated Plan. Two kinds of assistance are currently available: a grant or a loan. Homeowners are eligible to receive a maximum grant amount of $10,000. A maximum $35,000 rehab loan has a 3 percent simple annualized interest for a 30-year term. DISCUSSION The City has been contracting with Habitat for Humanity (Habitat), to administer the Housing Rehab Program since October of 2016, completing a total of ten projects with one additional active project. Projects range from kitchen and bathroom rehabilitations to patio repair for a disabled resident and HVAC installation for a senior resident. Habitat has been allocated $249,034 for the program since October 2016, with a total of $152,687.77 expended at the end of June 2020. These expenditures include $62,703.23 for the rehabilitation projects that have been completed and $89,984.54 for Habitat's administrative costs for the last 45 months. Funding is from a combination of federal CDBG and HOME funds['] and the City's Lower Income Housing Fund. Proposed Modifications to the Housing Rehabilitation Program Based on the limited number of Pleasanton homeowners interested and qualifying for the Housing Rehab Program, City and Habitat staff had discussions with the Housing Commission to re-assess the program. Based on the Housing Commission's re- evaluation of the program at its June 20th and September 19th meetings, staff is recommending the following proposed changes that would ensure that more Pleasanton residents are able to benefit from the program. Staff is recommending that the Housing Rehab Program be revised to the following program policies, which are similar to the Renew Alameda County (Renew AC), the county-wide housing rehabilitation loan program funded by the Measure Al Affordable Housing Bond. 1. Increase the maximum loan amount from $35,000 to $150,000. Qualified homeowners may be eligible to receive up to a maximum loan of $150,000 depending on need. Increasing the maximum loan limit would allow homeowners The HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) provides formula grants to cities, counties and states to fund building. buying, and/or rehabilitating affordable housing for rent or homeownership, or providing direct rental assistance to low-income people. HOME is the largest Federal block grant to state and local governments to create affordable housing for low-income households. Page 2 of 4